


April in Ba Sing Se

by sugarfr0g



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU: NOT COMPLIANT WITH THE COMICS AND A LOT OF THE POST SHOW STUFF SHH, Also a little OOC I'm bad at remembering canon, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Good Sibling Dynamics, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, ba sing se isn't a shitshow, healing from trauma healthily, iroh playing matchmaker, just a couple chapters of me indulging myself, mai and ty lee are dating but it's not mentioned enough to tag as a relationship, screw you canon azula is healing, she's a little shit but she's working on it, the gaang encouraging this, this is very unrealistic but it's been in my brain since 2014
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24812656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarfr0g/pseuds/sugarfr0g
Summary: A year and some change after the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai and the end of the hundred year war, the Gaang decides to drop their collective responsibilities for a month and spend Spring in the Earth Kingdom.Well, again. This time there's going to be less bureaucratic corruption. And more shifts at the Jasmine Dragon.At first, Zuko thinks that he can't wait for the month to end. He'd rather be back at home- the Fire Nation was still a wreck. But when he reconnects with someone he thought he'd never meet again, everything changes.Or: Zuko meets Jin again and catches feelings.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Jin (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Jin/Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 12
Kudos: 79





	April in Ba Sing Se

Zuko had been against the idea from the beginning.

It wasn't as if a country of brainwashed citizens could be fixed overnight. The past few months had been what could only be described as an exhausting cacophony of government fuckery as he tried to piece together what the past three or so Fire Lords had torn apart. But Uncle Iroh, on the other hand, had been cheering for it from the beginning. Of course he would, though-- Uncle would never passed up a vacation, especially to Ba Sing Se. Even despite everything that had happened there. 

In the end, it had been Sokka who convinced him. 

"I'm just saying, I think you could use a break."

Zuko glared. Not at Sokka, but in his reflection. Sokka had a habit of wandering into his room whenever he pleased when he was at the palace. Zuko would usually chase him out, but a meeting with a group of Northern Water Tribe Officials left him exhausted. It just so happened that on this night, Sokka had caught him as he was preparing to sleep for the night.

"You think wrong," he said. "I'm perfectly fine here."

"Dude," Sokka retorted. "I saw you screaming into a throw pillow earlier."

Zuko blushed. This wasn't false. But he had sworn he was alone when he did that.

"Fine. Let's say I do want to go on vacation- why Ba Sing Se?"

"Well, since you're so concerned about work or whatever, you can still do stuff from there. Ba Sing Se is still kind of a mess, so if you're seriously allergic to fun, there's diplomacy or whatever."

Not untrue. Zuko began to chew on the inside of his lip.

"Think of it as a do-over. This time we're not at eachother throats and there's no impending threat. Just a nice vacation with no weird shit going on."

Zuko wasn't used to nice or normal. Maybe it was the remnants of edgy-sixteen-year-old him, but he wasn't sure if that was something that was possible for him. The closest he had ever gotten had been in Ba Sing Se when he worked at the Jasmine Dragon. Shit-- the Jasmine Dragon!

"Well, it can't be Ba Sing Se."

"Why not?"

"I..."

Zuko swallowed.

"When my uncle and I were there, I disguised myself as a mere citizen named Lee. I can't go back. I'll have so many people who remember me."

Sokka stared at him for a moment, and then began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Zuko choked.

"Dude," Sokka recovered, wiping a tear from his eye for comedic effect. "If that's your biggest issue with vacation, I think we'll be fine. I'll tell Katara your answer is yes."

Zuko opened his mouth, but Sokka was already out the door, and he couldn't bring himself to follow him. Maybe they were right; a vacation could be nice. And worst case scenario, he could hunker down and get work done the entire time and nobody could say anything about it, because he was technically there.

Three days post that conversation, and after plenty of preparation, the group of them were set to make the journey to Ba Sing Se. Without the Fire Nation on their tail, Aang had asserted that by going west they could make it to Ba Sing Se in less than a day's journey. Zuko wasn't entirely sure how Appa was going to travel so far with seven people on his back. but he didn't feel like asking Aang and getting into a conversation about Appa. 

"Hey," Toph greeted as Zuko sat down next to her.

"You agreed to this?" In the months since, Toph and Zuko had started talking more. It turned out that the two of them had more in common than deadpan snark. And if there was one thing Zuko had come to learn about Toph, it was that she did not enjoy the time they had spent in Ba Sing Se.

"The only other option was staying here with Crazypants."

Crazypants- Azula- had been another thing that Zuko had been anxious about. Since he had taken the crown, Zuko had seen to it personally that Azula received proper mental treatment. At first he had sort of just wanted to lock her away. But the longer she spent in confinement, the more it ate away at him. She was still his sister, despite her many attempts to kill him. She wasn't even fifteen yet, just a month or two shy of her birthday. So he had tried to get her on the road to recovery. It wasn't to say this hadn't been working, she was slightly less homicidal than before. But something about leaving her here made Zuko's gut twist. He decided he'd send her a hawk when they landed. (Their conversations were usually curt and bitter, but he knew knowing she was okay would lesson the knot in his stomach.)

Uncle Iroh showed up soon after. However, he had to make a couple trips back to his quarters to make sure that his bag was light enough to fit on Appa. After giving a final set of commands to one of the guards who had come to see them off, Appa rose into the sky and began their journey.

Zuko tuned out for more of the ride. As riveting as Sokka and Aang's debate on what the best kind of soup was, Zuko was still stuck on the whole Azula thing. What if she escaped and tried to start a coup? Azula wouldn't exactly have trouble convincing a couple of guards to help her out- she was gifted in the way of convincing people. Maybe he should have just brought her along so they could keep an eye on her. But no, then she could've escaped and they'd never find her, or she'd wreak destruction--

Zuko blinked. It was as if several hours passed in a few seconds. The rocky terrain of the Fire Nation had morphed into the sprawling plains of the Earth Kingdom. Most of the group was asleep, save for Aang who was piloting and Iroh, who was weaving some strings together with his fingers.

"Something on your mind, Zuko?" Iroh spoke without looking up from his project.

Zuko swallowed, looked to make sure Aang was still focused on the sky, then back to his uncle. A year ago, Zuko would've still been hesitant to straight up ask for wisdom from Iroh. 

"Azula," he spoke simply, bringing his voice to a hushed tone. That was enough to convey the message.

"If you're worried about leaving her there, I assure you she is in good hands."

"I'm just afraid she'll start something."

"Zuko," Iroh spoke, finally looking up from his project. "You cannot stress yourself with hypotheticals. If anything happens, we will have a hawk. I know you find it difficult to relax, but maybe it is best to free your mind of her for a couple days."

Zuko pursed his lips. He didn't like when his uncle was right about something. He was going to say something else, but he heard Katara begin to stir. And then Sokka and Suki, who had been curled up next to each other, and soon the entire group was awake. No use in talking now that everyone was awake to listen. 

"Oh, cool! Everyone's up! We're gonna land soon!" Aang called from the front.

Appa bellowed as he ducked between a mound of clouds, and Ba Sing Se became visible. The city looked different- and beautiful. While the outer wall remained intact, the inner sections seemed to bleed into each other. Along the hundreds of roads and alleys, he spotted people walking and laughing. It was so dissimilar to the city he had seen just months ago, when the Dai Li ruled the city with an iron grip.

As Appa began to land next to a large olive-tinted house, Zuko prayed this was the right decision.

**Author's Note:**

> Woo! First chapter done. I haven't written a multi-chap fic before so forgive me if the pacing is wonky, but welcome to AiBSS! I used to daydream about Jin and Zuko meeting again, and I think they do in the comics? I haven't read them. Anyways, a lot of this is based off some old scribblings I found in a journal from fifth grade. As such there's a lot of OOC and playing with canon, so keep that in mind! Kudos and comments are appreciated!


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